Men’s Lacrosse Hosts Mercer on Tuesday Evening

SET THE SCENE: UMBC plays its first of two evening, mid-week games of the 2014 season on Tuesday, March 11, when they host the Mercer Bears at UMBC Stadium. Both teams are 2-2 on the season and both have defeated one common opponent, Richmond. The two squads have never met on the lacrosse field, as Mercer is competing in its fourth NCAA Division I campaign. Kevin O’Neill has all the play-by-play action beginning at 7:25 p.m. and video streaming is available via the America East digital network.

RETRIEVER UPDATE: Fueled by sophomore midfielder Pat Young, the UMBC men’s lacrosse team rallied from six goals down to pull within one twice, but could not get over the top, falling to No. 3 Johns Hopkins, 15-8, Saturday afternoon at UMBC Stadium. Young scored four goals and added an assist in the contest and red-shirt freshman netminder Connor Gordon made 16 saves, but JHU outscored UMBC, 6-0, in the final 15 minutes to pull away. Gordon is ranked sixth in the nation with 13.5 saves per game and is 11th in save percentage at 58.7%. R A Matt Gregoire continues to lead the Retrievers in scoring with 10 goals and 11 total points. Young, who scored four goals and added an assist versus Hopkins, is now just behind with seven goals and three helpers. SO M Jack Gannon, who scored a career-best four points (2g, 2a) versus Hopkins, and Young are the only Retrievers with points in all four games to date.

BEAR UPDATE: Mercer is 2-2 on the season and has not played a game versus NCAA Division I competition since an 11-7 victory in an Atlantic Sun match against Richmond on Feb. 22. The Bears opened the season with a 17-6 victory over Boston U., and then dropped road contests at Michigan (20-7) and Detroit (11-10). Mercer scored five fourth quarter goals to book a historic 11-7 win over Richmond in the first official Atlantic Sun Conference lacrosse game in Macon, Ga. Eight different Mercer players found the net in the win, led by senior attackman Zack Ward‘s three goal effort. Sophomore goalkeeper Mike Nugent faced 24 shots on goal and made 17 saves in the win to improve to 2-2 on the season. Ward has scored 13 goals and has 17 total points to lead Mercer in both categories. Sophomore attackman Chris Baxa has scored nine goals in support of Ward.

WHO’S UP NEXT: UMBC is in the midst of a stretch where they play five times in 15 days. They head to North Carolina on Friday for a Saturday contest at High Point. The opening face-off is set for noon.